Shukumei
by BlingBling021
Summary: In which, despite fighting and falling and fate, neither lets go. L x Light, 31 prompts. YAOI.
1. Fighting

Warnings: THIS FIC CONTAINS YAOI, some of it on the EXPLICIT SIDE. If you don't like this, TURN BACK NOW.

Notes: Written for a 30 prompts table I randomly found online. They were originally all going to be short little things, like the first few, but as I kept writing them I seemed to come up with longer and longer ones lol. I wrote them out of order and tried to put them back into chronological order, but they don't all fit exactly… Sorry if you get confused. --;;

Shukumei: Fate, destiny

RANDO: lol This is a funny quote I just found and wanted to share. "A dream catcher works…if your dream is to be gay." – Demetri Martin

Please read and review.

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01. Alone

For 25 years, L had been alone.

He had been happy.

He had accepted that his work was all there would ever be, and he was content.

(_And then there was Light, and L couldn't remember how he ever spent his days without obsessing over one person like this_.)

02. Away

When Light was away from headquarters, L wiggled his toes in an agitation that he hoped no one noticed.

(_Watari notices everything_.)

When Light was away from headquarters, he talked about L a lot.

(_Ryuk would snicker to himself, but otherwise kept his mouth shut_.)

03. Black

It was storming outside, and there was a power blip.

"I thought your backup generators had things like this covered, Ryuuzaki," Light scowled in irritation as his monitor went black. L leaned over him to press a switch at the far side of the console.

"My apologies, Light-kun," he said quietly, his hair just slightly brushing Light's nose as he retracted his torso back to his own chair. The screens crackled back to life, and Light sat strangely still for a few seconds before reaching toward his mouse.

Ryuuzaki's hair had smelled like strawberry shampoo.

(_Light wanted another whiff, just to be sure_.)

04. Fallen

When L meets Misa and watches the way she clings to Light, he feels his stomach boil. Then he turns away and insists to himself that it would be a waste of time to let all of Light's admirers bother the world's three greatest detectives.

After all, Light is easily fallen for.

(_Is this what jealousy feels like?_)

05. Broken

Light slams the door to his room and smashes his fists down on his desk furiously. "_Damn_ you, Ryuuzaki!" Ryuk floats casually through the wall after him.

"Hey, there's no need to be so angry." The shinigami tilts his head sideways and smiles smugly. "That L said you were his first friend. Won't that make him easier to manipulate?"

Light doesn't answer, opting to silently open the Death Note and copy down names with more than his usual fervor.

Ryuk is so interested that he forgets to whine for apples.

(_Later, when Rem easily agrees to kill L at Light's command, Light curses whatever it is inside of him that feels so broken_.)

06. Dream

The detective is drowning in a heaven of warmth. The bed underneath him and the body on top of him are so, so soft. There is a foreign pressure on his lips and a stirring in his navel, and he is gazing at the ceiling of a room that he has watched through cameras for hundreds of hours.

That auburn hair is as silky as it looks, he finds, as pale fingers slide through it. Light pulls away and smiles down at him, and he feels his heart skip a beat.

The word 'Kira' never passes through L's mind. They are a normal couple, making out on a normal afternoon. Light leans in to kiss him again, but it is a more familiar voice that murmurs "Ryuuzaki."

As the world swims back into focus, Watari presents him with a tray of cakes.

(_It is the first time L has ever remembered a dream about anyone but his mother_.)

07. Paradox

(_You are always playing the game_.)

L had been working diligently, focused on the case. Really, he had. And when he is focusing on a case, L's arm moves almost mechanically to shove various types of sugar into his mouth. It was the sudden pause in this motion that caught Light's attention.

"What's new, Ryuuzaki?"

Lamp-like black orbs turned their deadened gaze onto the police chief's son.

"I lost the game."

(_Whenever you lose the game, you must announce it to everyone around you._)

Light's brain, already in Kira-mode, immediately went haywire. _What? Is he saying he knows I'm Kira? But if he knows I'm Kira, doesn't that mean he _won_ the game? Or maybe he knows I am Kira and that he can't do anything about it, so he's admitting his defeat to me? Is he trying to get me to proclaim my victory in the face of his defeat and therefore expose myself as Kira and ultimately get arrested?_ This train of thought would have continued if it hadn't been, strangely enough, Misa who interrupted.

"NOOOO!" The high-pitched squeal came from halfway up the stairs, where she had apparently been in the process of coming down to visit light. "Ryuuzaki, you _jerk!_ Misa _hates_ you!" A flurry of blonde hair and tiny fists shot over to the console and began beating L over the head. The rest of the investigation team looked on, frozen in half shock, half amusement.

(_Of course, announcing your loss means that everyone else will lose the game, too._)

"Misa had been on a streak! One year, five months, and twenty-three days! Now Ryuuzaki broke the streak and Misa lost and Misa hates losing and Misa hates Ryuuzaki!" she fumed, struggling against Light as he tried to hold her off. The feel of Light's arms around her middle cooled her down a bit, and, pouting, she sunk back into Light's lap. Snuggling around a bit to find a comfortable seat, she glared at L. L's eyebrow twitched.

"What's all this about, Amane-san?" Soichiro asked tentatively. Misa opened her mouth to answer, but L interrupted calmly.

"I lost the game, so she lost the game. In fact, everyone in this room lost the game. She seems to be upset about it."

"The game?" Light inquired, rapid Kira-heartbeat slowing a little. "What game?" A piercing, soulless stare answered him, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"_The_ game, Light-kun. When you think about the game, you lose it," L explained in that creepy voice of his. "And by saying you've lost, you make everyone else think about it and lose it, too." He paused. Matsuda still looked confused. "The point of the game is to forget that it exists."

Light snorted. "That's a stupid paradox, Ryuuzaki." L shrugged, gazing with a hint of contempt as Misa continued to shift around on Light's lap.

"That may be so, Light-kun…but it doesn't matter." The black pits in L's eyes bore down on him, and a shiver went down his spine. The ghost of a smirk tugged at the corners of L's mouth, and his next words were a whisper. "_You can never stop playing_."

A few months later, L sat beside a snoozing Light on their bed, listening as he gave his first little wake-up yawn. The room was silent for a few seconds, and then…

"…_Damn _it!"

L smiled.

(_It didn't matter if he lost the game. Light was especially cute when he scowled._)

08. Forget

"You'll forget everything, you know," Ryuk reminds Light when he is informed of the upcoming plan to relinquish all ownership of the Death Note.

"That's the only way," Light murmurs confidently to himself. He goes over to his window, and takes a long look at the moon. "…Everything, huh?" He smiles, and Ryuk is almost surprised to see that he looks a bit…sad.

Almost.

"I wonder…"

(_And when Light finds himself handcuffed in a cell for no reason at all, he doesn't know why he wants to see the owner of the static voice more than anything else._)

09. Fire

Light had fire in his eyes before and after he came out of solitary confinement.

L knows the difference. Before, he used to feel only his skin scald under the amber gaze.

These days, it sets his very _soul_ on fire.

(_Everyone thought L was made of ice, but Light knew better_._ If he looked hard enough, he could see a flicker behind those twin mirrors of shining obsidian_.)

10. Flower

Light had been in the practice of buying flowers for his girlfriends, but he had never allowed any reciprocation before. After all, what did Yagami Light want or need with flowers?

This is why, when he finds a bright yellow dandelion on his side of the desk one morning, he is confused. Besides a little mangling of the stalk, the bud itself is a near perfect specimen. Light immediately knows who is to blame, and turns to the scraggly detective at his side.

"Well?" Light asks, raising an eyebrow and holding the dandelion up meaningfully. Ryuuzaki gives him that blank, innocent look that makes a muscle underneath Light's eye twitch.

"It is a sign of our friendship," L explains simply. "Don't friends give each other flowers occasionally?" He cocks his head, unafraid of having just made a potentially serious faux pas. Light clicks his tongue in exasperation.

"Only _lovers_ give each other flowers, Ryuuzaki. And besides, a dandelion isn't a flower. It's a weed." The chief's son sighs, and an unbidden surge of annoyed affection suddenly sweeps across his chest. He is so surprised that he nearly drops the dandelion. Ryuuzaki turns back to his monitor, but Light could have sworn that the corner of those pale lips quirked upwards.

"It is a flower, Light-kun."

"It's a _weed_, Ryuuzaki." Light scowls and slips it into his bag with what he hopes is a nonchalant gesture.

(_Later, when he gets home, he presses it gently between the pages of a book_._ He tells himself that he is only keeping it as proof of a time when the great detective L didn't know what he was talking about_.)

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A/N: My personal favorite of this set is Flower, just because it seems like something that would totally happen in the canon lol. I posted 10 ficlets for this chapter, and I will post 10 more in a few days if people like them. It gets down to the real yaoi in the next one. 


	2. Falling

Title: Shukumei

Title: Shukumei

Rating: T

Summary: In which, despite fighting and falling and fate, neither lets go. (L x Light, 31 prompts. YAOI.)

Warnings: THIS FIC CONTAINS YAOI, some of it on the LIME-ISH side. If you don't like this, TURN BACK NOW.

Notes: Here's the next ten! These are kind of weird, maybe, because the order in which I wrote them is way different than the order I'm posting them…eh, oh well.

Please read and review.

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11. Grave

(_It wasn't L's fault that their hands fit together so perfectly_.)

"I wonder what Kira will want his grave to look like, once we catch him," Light said absently one afternoon. L's attention was on him immediately, the chain between them jingling as the detective jerked his head around.

"If you were Kira, what would _you_ want?" The usual sick, eager-for-a-confession light was in his eyes.

"I'm not Kira, for the fifth time in as many minutes," Light snapped. "But if I _were_," he contemplated aloud, "I would want some kind of church in my honor, wouldn't I? Haven't we agreed that Kira considers himself a god?"

L was silent for a long moment, and only spoke when Light finally thought the conversation was over. "Kira shall have an unmarked gravestone." The husky, baritone voice sent a shiver down Light's spine. L fixed his gaze onto Light's, and the younger boy was unable to read the older one's eyes.

_What is that emotion_…_?_

"Light-kun, I would also like to be buried with an unmarked gravestone."

The sentence almost echoed through the room. The whole investigation team seemed to be listening in, judging by the lack of papers rustling and humming (usually Matsuda) in the background. The two geniuses stared at each other for a long time: a silent battle of wills, smarts, and that _something else_—

"No," said Light. Ryuuzaki's expression didn't flicker, though it wasn't often that Chief Yagami's son ever looked this genuinely angry. "If you don't want the credit due to you for being _L_, for god's sake, you at least owe it to _us_ to put down a name to remember you by. Your real name." Light's fist clenched. "You owe it to _me_, Ryuuzaki." They glared at each other for a few more moments. Light tried desperately to read L's eyes, to tell L through telepathy that he wanted to know his name as a _friend,_ and not as Kira. L looked away.

"78 percent, Light-kun," he whispered softly.

(_The next morning, L let Light sleep in two hours later than usual_. _When Light awoke, one of his hands felt strangely warm_…_almost as if someone had been holding it_.)

………………………

12. Nightmare

Who was _he?_

(_He was no one_.)

She was Amane Misa. She was a model, an actress. She was beautiful, famous, the star in the dreams of half the males in Japan every night.

She was known, she was recognized. She was rich. She was loved.

And who was _he?_

(_He was no one_.)

He was L. He was Daneuve, Erald Coil, the top three most sought-after detectives in the entire world. He was a genius, a mystery, a trump card.

He was rich, he was famous. He didn't need any looks at all, merely his brain and his sugar.

He was feared. He was respected.

And who was _he?_

_He_ was Yagami Light. A student. A score on a sheet of paper, a number in a set of statistics. A brother, a son.

_He_ was beautiful, yes, but not famously so. He was not Ryuuga Hideki. He was not Amane Misa.

_He_ was a leader and a genius, yes, but only to Toudai students who cared for such things. He was not his father. He was not L.

(_He was no one_.)

And then he was Kira, and he was like _them_. Known. Feared. Famous. _Worshipped_.

Misa whispered, "_I can take care of you. I have money. I have fame. Love me, and you'll never have to work a day in your life. I am perfection._"

L whispered, "_I can put you to death. I have money. I have renown. Cross me, and you'll be revealed as the worthless, average murderer you are. I am justice._"

And Light whispered, "_I hate you._"

Because they were everything, and he was nothing, and under any other circumstance but this (_this_) they would have outshone him with a blinding brightness that he could never, _ever_ compare to.

(_He was no one_.)

And when Light woke up in a cold sweat, they were each holding one of his hands. Misa's beautiful, famous face was creased with worry and distress. L's powerful, influential hand was white-knuckled around his own.

"Light! Light, are you okay?! Misa wants you to look at her! Is Light sick or dying?!"

"Light-kun had a nightmare, Misa-san. Please calm down."

And _they_ were both looking intensely into his eyes, radiating anxiety and comfort and _love_—

_Why? Whywhywhy?! He was nothing!_ _There they were and there he was and he didn't understand, didn't understand any of it, but— but—_

L moved to page Watari and Misa jumped up to fetch water, but Light yanked their hands toward himself and they landed with exclamations into one big pile on the couch. All of them, together, _their_ faces pressed into no one's neck.

A moment passed, and then their warmth permeated his clothing at the same time that their smiles tickled his skin.

And Light felt like _someone_.

(_Misa, secretly, had always felt like a trophy. L, secretly, had always felt like a tool. Then Light came along, and suddenly they were both human again._)

(_Light has always been more than they could ever hope to be_.)

………………………

13. Together

It wasn't long until L figured out that the colder he kept their bedroom, the closer Light would involuntarily snuggle up to him in his sleep.

Of course, getting Light to fall asleep under these conditions in the first place made the effort's worth questionable.

"Ryuuzaki, it's fucking winter outside," Light snapped as he dragged himself out of the bathroom, done with his nightly hygiene rituals, and into their room for the fourth time that week. "Turn up the damn heat for once, will you?"

If L had not been tipped off by the completely _exhausted_ sunkenness in Light's eyes as to the foul mood his companion was in, the detective could now consider himself fully enlightened. Light didn't usually curse in more than one consecutive sentence unless extremely haggard from lack of sleep.

Which was indeed the case right now…

…and which L, true to form, did not bother his fluffy little head about.

'Hm, it seems that Light-kun is especially tired tonight. Thus, he will sleep more deeply and his subconscious urges will have more powerful effects on his body. Along with the fact that I have arranged the temperature to be one degree cooler than normal, the probability that Light-kun will press himself against me for warmth tonight is…84.6 percent. Excellent.'

Light was already near the end of his rope, and his spirits were not raised by the strange little smile that flitted across Ryuuzaki's face after a moment of them staring at each other.

"_Well?_" Light snarled pointedly.

"It is expensive to heat this building, Light-kun, as it is fairly large." L cocked his head innocently. Light's eyebrow twitched.

"You _built_ this monstrosity in the first place, not to mention equipped it with all the latest in security and tech hardware; you clearly have enough money to do something as minor as heating it," the police chief's son growled.

L's lamp-like eyes stared back at him very seriously. "Waste not, want not."

Light immediately decided to take L's advice and not waste the opportunity, as he _wanted_ very badly to punch L in the face.

The following fight was as evenly matched and predictable as usual, though L got in a few dirty kicks by using Light's sleep-deprived state to his advantage. It was over quickly, and Light collapsed on the bed in utter fatigue. The handcuff dictated that L follow, and the snoop seated himself at his usual place near the headboard while Light's panting turned to shivering. A head tilted, and amber pools met black mirrors for a long, silent minute.

L watched as the look of suspicion dawned on Light's attractive face, morphing from a scowl of disbelief to a sigh of determination in under a second. The detective raised an eyebrow at his suspect as the brunet crawled up and peeled back the covers, moving to situate himself under them.

"Why are you attempting to yank the covers out from underneath me, Light-kun?"

"You're sleeping tonight, Ryuuzaki," Light told him firmly. "Don't argue, just get under the blankets." Light grunted as he stretched himself out, now surrounded by cold sheets, and rolled over to see that L had not moved an inch. Light sighed, hesitating. "Ryuuzaki…come _on_. I'm very, very tired."

He hadn't said 'please,' would _never_ say 'please,' but L could hear it on the tip of his tongue. Another long moment of staring commenced, and then the detective slowly stretched out and nestled down in the bed as well, pulling pillows closer and beginning to pile them around himself.

"I suppose I could sleep tonight," L conceded as if there had never been an argument. "It has been three or four days, after all—Light-kun!" The honorific came out as a bit more of a squeak than he had meant it to, but L attributed it to the fact that the boy on the other end of the handcuffs had suddenly seized him around the middle. "What do you think you're doing?" His voice was once more composed, though his cheeks were instantly a lot warmer than usual.

Light buried his face in the insomniac's neck deliberately, scooting nice and close enough to feel the body heat that L radiated, but not touching all the way down the length of their frames. His arm remained draped gently over L's thin stomach, however. "I'm cold and it's your fault, so you're going to fix it."

L was momentarily floored, not that it showed in his expression. Light-kun was…Light-kun had _willingly_ come this close. He could smell the brunet's hair, feel his soft breathing against his collar. L's mind raced, calculating motives and fatigue and Kira—

"Don't think about it, Ryuuzaki," Light yawned tiredly, quickly slipping under now that there was softness and warmth around him. "Just go…to sleep…"

Then Light's breathing was deep and even, consciousness gone.

And, to L's vague surprise, he found himself following not long after.

(_Before he lost all train of thought, L decided to keep the room at this temperature from now on_.)

In the morning, L's awareness of heat and a hazy trace of desire seeped into his mind before he raised his leaden eyelids to confront the situation.

During the night, Light had burrowed so close that the detective was now completely on top of him. Pale fingers were interlocked with tan ones to one side, and cradling a shoulder to the other. L felt Light's free hand on his back, under his shirt. Light's legs were spread, curled loosely around L's so that their feet tangled together, and a mountain of pillows completed the cocoon of paradise that surrounded the two boys.

L's eyes fell shut again, and he laid his head back down in the crook of Light's neck. This was the closest he had ever been to another person in a decade…might as well savor the moment.

And when Light finally awoke, he only found himself mildly curious at the situation in how utterly natural a progression it seemed. After all, the handcuffs kept them in this state at all times; why should they not wake up this way as well?

Together.

(_And even though the investigation room was heated, Light sat an entire foot closer than necessary to L for the duration of the day_.)

………………………

14. Silver

"Light-kun, what makes you the happiest?"

The question came without any warning whatsoever, and Light was so surprised that he had to stall a little longer than usual while his mind frantically searched for a non Kira-like answer.

"…What kind of a question is _that_, Ryuuzaki?"

"You did not answer," L mused, chewing on his thumbnail. "Perhaps this means that being Kira makes you the happiest?"

"I'm not Kira!" Light sighed. "And even if I _was_, how could anyone ever find happiness in killing others?" L looked as if he was about to comment on this, but changed his mind as Light shot him a withering glare. "Trying to _catch_ Kira is what makes me the happiest."

L wiggled his toes. "I could have guessed such a predictable answer, Light-kun. I meant _besides_ that." Light raised an eyebrow, and L continued. "If here in headquarters with the investigation team is your gold medal, what is your silver? Where are you the happiest _outside_ of the Kira case?" L's luminous orbs gazed at him with that deep, watchful stare that always set everyone on edge. Light was not as affected by it as he normally was, however, simply because he was at such an utter loss.

Where was he happiest…_outside_ of the Kira case? His whole _world_ revolved around the Kira case.

What a stupid question.

"I'm _not_ happy outside of the Kira case," Light told L with complete honesty. "It's my bronze, silver, and gold all wrapped up into one."

The Kira Investigation Headquarters was where his father was. It was where his innocence waited to be proven.

It was where L sat with him day and night, only a chain's length away, testing him and taunting him and making his life so much _more_ than anything it had ever been.

Light suddenly couldn't quite bring himself to meet the detective's eyes.

"What about _you_, Ryuuzaki? Where are _you_ the happiest?"

L blinked, a motion that was every bit as simple as his answer.

"With you."

A moment of silence passed.

The epiphany hit Light like a freight train.

And as things suddenly clicked into place and he recognized his feelings toward L for what they really were—intense, acute, genuine _attraction_—blood rushed uncontrollably to Light's face, staining his cheeks with the deepest blush they had ever displayed.

Despite a deep urge to drink in the picture, L turned away to give Light privacy in this surprisingly embarrassing moment…

(…_But only because he was wondering why his own face felt so hot_.)

………………………

15. Kiss

It is late, but not that late, and the moon is shining into their bedroom. L is seated near the headboard, typing away as usual on his laptop, and Light is turned away as he tries to fall asleep. Light's tired, as always, but the bright moonbeams dance across his face through the window no matter which way he turns. At last he sits up and kicks off the covers, giving the chain a soft tug. L looks up at him questioningly, the clicking of keys at a momentary pause.

"Let's look at the moon, Ryuuzaki."

Maybe it's because the stars are sparkling, maybe because L is bored, or maybe because Light's hair is messed up _just so_—

"…Alright. Just this once."

(_It was worth it for the smile Light sent him_.)

L unfolded his body from the hideous crouching posture that he constantly assumed, following Light out onto the balcony. They turn their faces upwards, away from the glow of the city. Light's expression is softer than L has ever seen it. His stomach flutters.

"It's beautiful," Light says softly. L gives him a long look, and Light's face hardens. "Surely wanting to look at the stars isn't somehow a Kira-like trait—"

"I could name a dozen ways that stargazing is a Kira-like trait," L interrupts bluntly. "But I am not thinking about Kira right now."

Light snorts. "Liar. You're always thinking about Kira." L turns to gaze at the sky.

"Depending on who Kira is, Light-kun, that may be correct."

A shooting star lights up the sky for a few moments, and Light's heartbeat quickens. Suddenly L feels too close and the night air is too warm, and Light barely manages not to jump when he feels a bony elbow brush his side.

And L, L is nervous and embarrassed and terrified even though nothing shows on his face, but he also knows that this is _the_ moment and he is resolute in his decision because, well, he's already risked his life with this boy; what more would a few unrequited feelings be? His mouth opens, and the words leave it.

"What am I to you?"

And Light knows what L is asking, knows how much rides on the answer, knows that this is stupid and improbable and impossible and that he wants it more than he's ever wanted anything. His breath shakes as he grits his teeth in regret and denial.

"I…it doesn't matter. This between us, L, it—it's interfering with our concentration on the case—"

"Shut up, Light-kun," L says simply, pressing a pale finger to his suspect's lips. The detective leans forward until their noses are brushing, feeling Light's breath hitch in his chest. Each smells the breath of the other washing over them, and L's eyes slide uncontrollably to half-mast. As he whispers, his lips brush the side of Light's mouth ever so lightly. "You and I both know this isn't about the case anymore."

And then their mouths are connected and open and everything is perfect. L does not count as his first kiss, and second, and third, and hundredth pass him by, only feels and smells and tastes Light's tongue in his mouth and fingers in his hair.

An hour later they go in to bed, happy and unsure and awkward as they lay down, backs touching but facing away from each other, it still being too early to acknowledge their stronger desires.

When the sunlight wakes Light and L is up by the headboard, typing away at his laptop as nonchalantly as always, he worries that it was all a dream. Before leaving the room, however, L pauses and turns to peck him shyly on the lips.

_(The happiness that swept over Light afterward was better than anything he had ever felt_.)

………………………

16. Fog

The click of the door echoed through headquarters as Matsuda left, leaving Light and L alone for the night. Half a second later the two were lunging at each other, open mouths colliding as fingers twisted into hair and clothing.

Light had been unable to think of anything but L all day long, his mind clouded over in a fog of emotions and desires. Never having had this kind of relationship with another male before, he wasn't even sure what it was, exactly, that he wanted; all Light knew was that it involved L, no clothes, and a bed.

"Room," Light ordered huskily between kisses. He let out a gasp as L unceremoniously scooped him up and began heading upstairs, half-carrying and half-dragging the younger boy as he stumbled down the hallway.

Miraculously they made it to their room before being forced to collapse in full view of the security cameras. When the door closed behind them, L groped about and pushed a button on the doorframe. Light vaguely heard the crunch of the room padlocking itself, but L's fingers were below his waistline and he didn't have much time to dwell on it. Crashing down onto the bed, an immediate tussle for dominance ensued. L's fingers were clumsy and inexperienced, but he managed to get Light's button-down shirt off with minimal damage. It hung on the chain, forgotten, soon joined by L's own plain white shirt.

Oh, all that pale smooth skin was so distracting that Light barely even noticed as his pants disappeared and L climbed on top of him, kissing and grinding and it wasn't long until it became very clear that there was an explicit difference between the way L touches _things_, and the way L touches _Light_.

Everything was hands and skin and teeth and tongues and it was new for both of them in various ways.

The next day Light could barely walk and L could barely think about the case, but it had all been _so_ worth it.

And as they lunged at each other again that night, forgetting about ethics and rules and Kira and pain, the handcuffs clinked and clanked.

(_They would be unnecessary sooner than either of them knew._)

………………………

17. Red

Apples are red, sugar is good…

…some people notice more things than they should.

"I'm _telling_ you, they're sleeping together!" Matsuda hisses to the chief urgently. "They've been making bedroom eyes at each other for five _hours_ now!"

It takes every ounce of self-control that Yagami Soichirou possesses to keep his face straight. "Matsuda, that's ridiculous. If they look tired, it's probably because Ryuuzaki hardly ever lets Light sleep."

"Argh!" The young, dark-haired man's eyebrow is twitching as it has never twitched before, and he emits frustrated grunting sounds that progressively grow louder. "Why, _why_ does no one believe me?! I know an affair when I see one!"

"For the last time, Matsuda, _shut up_," Aizawa growls in annoyance. "Light has a very willing Amane Misa to cater to his every whim! What more could he want?" Mogi nods in agreement.

"Light's not that into Misa-Misa! Even _I_ know that much," Matsuda shakes his head fervently. "And he's chained to L day and night! Of _course_ his hormones are going to get thrown out of whack. Ryuuzaki might be kind of a weirdo, yeah, but he's the only one around here on Light's mental level!" He had begun ticking off fingers in a list of 'Reasons Why Light and L are Fucking Like Rabbits Every Night.' "Whenever they walk anywhere, Light lags behind. It _looks_ like it's because Ryuuzaki walks so fast, but it's _really_ so Light can stare at Ryuuzaki's hips! And L's mouse _used_ to be on the left side of his keyboard, but now it's on the right so that his hand has an excuse to brush Light's! Not to mention that they always go to the second-floor bathroom when there's a perfectly good one down here! And also…"

As the feverish storm of Matsuda's whispering and Aizawa's murmurs of disagreement drifted over to the largest console, Light felt a smirk tug at his lips. Stretching out his left pinky, he hooked it with L's right, which was indeed hovering over a mouse.

"Is this really just an excuse to brush my hand, Ryuuzaki?" Turning to grin at the detective, Light found L staring at him contemplatively. A brown eyebrow raised itself as canines chewed on a pale thumb. "What?"

"I didn't know you liked to stare at my hips when I walk."

Light shrugged and turned back to his monitor, but L didn't miss the light flush that dusted his cheeks. "You stare at me plenty, too, you know." _And your hips just fit so _perfectly_ in my hands that it makes me want to grab them and pull them against mine at all times_…

After a moment of contemplation, L turned back toward his monitor as well, a small smile on his face. "I guess we will have to be more careful in the future, Light-kun." The police chief's son glanced at him, smirking, with obvious bedroom eyes.

"I guess we will."

(_Kira shines red, L's eyes glow blue…and the case would be screwed if anyone knew_.)

………………………

18. Touch

The first several times it happened, L had been the one on top of Light.

Consequently, when L finally trusted Light to be the seme, the younger boy was so excited and nervous that he couldn't completely hide it. He climbed over L, who lay flat on the bed as they kissed and ground against each other, and couldn't help noticing more than ever that _we're the same height, the same and he's older than me and god he's _**L** _for fuck's sake and I'm going to be _**inside**_ him and oh gods he looks so sexy right now—_

"Light-kun," L said softly, "you're shaking."

Light did indeed notice that his hands were trembling as he spread L's legs and hooked them over his shoulders. The brunet gave a nervous little half-laugh, half-groan as he began to trail kisses along the insides of L's knee and the detective's breath hitched.

"Ryuuzaki," Light breathed, guiding himself to where he knew he should be and testing the extent of L's flexibility as he leaned forward. Years of contorted posture had left L very flexible indeed, it seemed, as Light was able to press his face against the pale chest below him and inhale the other's scent. He hovered at Ryuuzaki's entrance, already prepared and lubed, but held back by invisible ties of apprehension.

After a few moments, L began to shift impatiently. "I hope you are not waiting for me to beg, Light-kun," his voice came out in a strained pitch. In spite of himself, Light gave a breathless little chuckle.

"Yeah. That would up my—_ngh_—Kira percentage, wouldn't it?" Slowly, he pushed the head in, using every ounce of self-restraint he possessed not to thrust forward immediately into the hot, tight heat. L winced uncomfortably, giving little groans and shifting his hips about as Light gradually sheathed himself. When they were at last fully connected, they stilled for a moment, the sounds of harsh panting from both filling the room.

Finally, after an excruciating ten seconds, L grit his teeth and nodded. A guttural moan welled deep within Light's throat as he began to rock himself in and out of L's body, picking up speed as he went on. L winced and clenched his teeth until finally, on one of Light's thrusts, his hips gave a wild buck and his eyes snapped open.

"_There_." Chest heaving after the wild convulsion of his hips, L groaned and gripped Light's back to pull him closer. "Light, touch me _there_."

He might as well have screamed _"Harder, faster, gods Light, __**fuck**__ me," _as a thunderbolt of pleasure shot straight to Light's groin and his hips began bucking wildly. The world was liquid heat, building around him and inside him until everything suddenly constricted and he exploded with L's voice in his ears and L's orgasm on his stomach.

Light continued thrusting, riding it out until he was forced to collapse with stars still shimmering before his eyes. A guttural, sated purr welled up from deep within his chest, the panting body under him all he could feel for several long moments. Then the exhaustion set in and, feeling his eyelids droop like lead, he used his last vestiges of consciousness to kiss any part of L's face he could reach.

The best orgasms of his life, it seemed, always involved L.

As L's body cooled, a smirk tugged at his flushed lips. "As usual, Light-kun…you have exceeded my expectations."

"I'll give you a repeat performance anytime you like," Light chuckled back huskily, nestling his head in the detective's shoulder.

"Hm," L mused, looking up at the ceiling absently as sleep fought to pull him under, "this certainly makes it official, I suppose."

"What?" Light yawned deeply, stretching and shifting about until he was comfortably covering the detective. L wrapped deceptively thin arms around his suspect.

"Nothing. Go to sleep, Light-kun."

(_I'm officially yours_.)

………………………

19. Reflection

"Hey, Ryuuzaki," Light murmured while they were on a break one day. They had come up to the roof of the headquarters under the pretense that Light needed some air after so many hours immersed in the case. No one had disagreed or tried to stop them. From the vantage point on top of the skyscraper they looked down onto the bustling city of Tokyo, alive and sparkling in the fading beams of the spectacular sunset.

Both geniuses liked being up here for several reasons, not all of which were totally unselfish.

(_After all, they were eons smarter than the vast population below them, and sometimes, well…they liked to literally _be_ above everyone else, though neither felt the need to flaunt their wits on a regular basis_.)

Not to mention that the lack of security cameras afforded a certain amount of privacy for making out. And with L's shoulder brushing his, gazing out into the distance, Light truly felt on top of the world…not that he would ever tell L this.

(_L knew it anyway_.)

"Yes, Light-kun?" The detective turned his curious, intent blank stare onto his companion.

"Have you ever thought about…" Light hesitated, trying to phrase his thoughts correctly. "Well, I mean, if the two of us ever had kids…" The brunet laughed at his own awkward wording. L's expression didn't flicker. "Don't you ever wonder just how _smart_ those brats would turn out?"

There had been a note of longing affection in Light's voice that L wasn't sure he had been meant to hear, and his heart gave an odd little throb. He remained silent for a long moment, turning back toward the honks of car horns, clangs, shouts, and other normal city clamor drifting up softly to their ears. Finally, the corners of his thin lips quirked upward in a smile.

"I do believe that any sentient being possessing a combination of our DNA…would be rather unnecessarily intelligent, yes," L affirmed quietly.

Light chuckled, and the sound—like anything and everything else about Yagami Light—was ridiculously beautiful. But it didn't distract the insomniac detective from the conversation the way it might have otherwise. L had not missed the other question, the _true_ question underlying the one that Light had asked him.

'_Your future, L…am I in it?'_

L's spidery hand groped about until it found Light's, both keeping their gazes fixed on the twinkling metropolis below them. Their hands clasped each other in a death grip.

'_You're in it whether you want to be or not, Light-kun_._'_

They didn't speak for the remaining duration of the break, though they kissed each other with an unusually fervent air of desperation in the elevator on the way back down to the investigation team. If anyone noticed that their clothes and hair were more mussed than when they had left, it was shrugged off. It might be a windy day outside, after all.

They returned to their normal positions in front of their monitors, maximizing the windows they had been working on and appearing to be continuing to research the case.

In reality, facts and figures were racing through L's head at a supersonic pace. Was it scientifically possible to convert a sperm into an egg? Would one of them need a trans-sexual operation? How much was this going to cost? No, the cost didn't matter, because L was loaded. All that mattered was Light…and if Light wanted a baby, Light was fucking going to get a baby.

Meanwhile, Light was thinking just as hard about how they were going to talk Misa into this. Would her stupidity ruin the gene pool? Would she go through with artificial insemination? Light didn't think he wanted to do it the other way, and there was no way in _hell_ he was allowing L to sleep with anyone else. But if Misa would take it artificially, then L could go first, because Light wanted L to end up with someone he could call family no matter how this relationship turned out.

But as both puzzled this issue through with different methods, they each secretly wished for the same thing.

(_I hope your child is a reflection of you_.)

………………………

20. Story

It was Light's fault, really, that L had forgotten to switch off the bugs in their room that night. The switch for the infrared cameras had been hit, yes, but not the switch for the audio detectors. Such a task is difficult to remember, you see, when one has been dry-humped all the way up the stairs.

And predictably, even though it was dark, Watari came to investigate as soon as he heard the suspicious noises that the bugs picked up in L's room. When the door opened abruptly, his soon to be scarred-for-life eyes met with the sight of the head detective, the main suspect, and a mass of tangled, naked limbs. At that particular moment, Light was moaning like a whore as L slammed into him. In fact, it is questionable as to whether or not Light would even have noticed the older man's presence if L had not stopped moving.

It was a testament to how truly shocked Watari was that, after a long minute of gaping in mute horror, he actually questioned his employer's judgment for the first time in Light's memory.

"L…what in god's name do you think you're doing?!"

L blinked, expression calm compared to the blazing one it had been the second before they had been interrupted. "Doing? I am trying my hardest to impregnate Light-kun, of course." Had Light not been so distracted by the throbbing amount of L inside him, he would have cracked up laughing.

After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Watari seemed to decide that the situation was beyond words. Bowing stiffly, he then proceeded to turn on his heel and vacate the area as swiftly as possible without breaking into a full run. After he slammed the door shut behind himself, it was only a few silent seconds before the thump of the bed against the wall resumed. Had Quillish Wammy been a lesser man, he would have fainted, or possibly hit himself in the head several times to erase his own memory.

As it was, however, he marched directly to the kitchen and poured himself a full glass of the strongest brandy he could find. He knew that everyone at the orphanage enjoyed his emails, which usually consisted of L's exploits in as detailed accounts as he felt it was safe to share.

Needless to say, he couldn't bring himself to write one that week.

(_This was one story that Quillish Wammy was never, _ever,_ going to tell Roger_.)

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TBC.

A/N: Sorry these limes weren't that great... One more to go, it'll be up in a few days.


	3. Fate

Title: Shukumei

Rating: T

Summary: In which, despite fighting and falling and fate, neither lets go. (L x Light, 31 prompts. YAOI.)

Warnings: THIS FIC CONTAINS YAOI. If you don't like this, TURN BACK NOW.

Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed! You guys brighten my day like none other, and inspire me to write more!

Notes: This last collection is my favorite, I think. I like Scar (#26) the best. And the prompt table originally only had 30 prompts in it, but I couldn't resist writing the last one. Not all of these are L and Light centric, because I also wanted to include some other points of view. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it so far, and I'm glad if you guys love L and Light as much as I do. In the middle there's a little time skip, hopefully it doesn't confuse you!

Please read and review.

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21. Secret

Yagami Soichiro might be old, but he isn't stupid.

He notices as Light and L's chairs inch closer together day by day, week by week, until after a month the chain that used to be taut hangs pooled on the floor between them.

He notices, as the investigation team begins going out for dinner together occasionally, that Light eats the foods L picks out of his meal, and vice versa.

He notices the number of bathroom breaks that the two take per day slowly increase from two to nine.

He notices that, on rainy days, L tends to rest his chin on Light's shoulder whenever he observes the other boy's monitor for a few minutes. Light only shifts closer.

Most of all he notices (_can feel it in the air, can see it in his eyes, a smile that glows whenever they are together_) that his only son is the happiest he's ever been.

No, Yagami Soichiro isn't stupid…but it didn't take a genius to realize that Light and L (who were, ironically, geniuses themselves) had a secret.

At first the chief is appalled, and no small amount of disgusted, but Light is grown now and he will let his son make his own decisions.

(_Fortunately for L and Light, Chief Yagami is good at keeping secrets_.)

One day he returns late to headquarters to retrieve some papers he forgot, and he rounds a corner to find his son holding both of Ryuuzaki's hands and staring the detective aggressively in the eyes. The tension in the air is thick and palpable, even though he has just walked in. The chief quickly ducks around a corner to remain unnoticed, but cannot help himself from pausing to eavesdrop.

"Ryuuzaki, I love you," drifts Light's quiet whisper. "No matter what. You know that, right?"

In the silence that follows, Soichiro finds himself holding his breath. After the longest, most excruciating ten seconds the police chief can ever remember experiencing, L answers.

"Yes, Light."

(_And at the sound of Light's tears, all ill feeling toward the relationship melts away from Yagami Soichiro's body like dirt in the rain_.)

……………………

22. Remember

Misa jolted awake, shot out of bed, and collapsed in front of the toilet as she threw up.

This feeling…this sick, _sick_ feeling…

Misa thought it was _hate_, only she had never quite hated anyone this much before. She had hated the man who killed her parents, but not this much. She had hated the man who almost killed _her_, but not _this_ much.

Only _him._

Only _Ryuuzaki._

No, that was stupid. Misa pressed a small hand to her forehead and groaned, trying to remember. It had been a dream, that was all. A _dream_.

(_So why did it feel like a memory…?_)

She cleaned herself up and went down to the main investigation room, where the team was already hard at work with coffee in hand.

"Light!" she hailed her boyfriend, giving him her sweetest smile and draping her arms over his shoulders. "Good morning! Misa loves you and wants you to work hard today so that Ryuuzaki will let us go out on a date later tonight, okay?"

Light gave a sleepy little yawn, glancing at her and then pushing her off gently. "Good morning, Misa, but I'm trying to work. You know I work hard every day; stuff like that doesn't matter to Ryuuzaki."

_There!_

With horror, Misa saw it. Saw the way Light's eyes lingered on Ryuuzaki for exactly three times as long as they had lingered on her. As a lump rose in her throat, she had no choice but to turn and sprint to her room immediately before anyone got suspicious.

That week, Misa watched.

She watched as Light looked toward her, and then had his flickering gaze stolen by small movements from Ryuuzaki. She noticed when she began to talk with Light about relationship issues, and Ryuuzaki smoothly cut into the conversation and ruined the moment. She felt Light's firm, toned, relaxed body give no response when she sat in his lap, but tense up when Ryuuzaki brushed the side of his hand.

Misa watched, and Misa hated.

The night that they were all alone in her room, the three of them, she acted out of desperation. Pulling on her skimpiest lingerie, fixing her makeup, and doing her hair took two hours, but it had never failed her before. This always, _always_ had every man she'd ever wanted anything from on his knees at her feet.

She waltzed up to Light without shame, without embarrassment, shifting her hips and thrusting her chest and flipping her hair and doing everything that she had ever learned men found desirable. Light's eyes were wide, amber and molten and _perfect_, and they were on her, _her_, they were on _Misa_ and not _Ryuuzaki_.

(_Look at me_.)

She felt her heart thudding in her chest as Light watched her body, watched smooth skin and soft curves climb into his lap and press against him.

"_Let me give you everything you've ever wanted_," she whispered into his ear, ghosting her teeth around the shell and lobe, feeling with her body for anything, _anything_, that showed Light's acceptance…and _then_.

"Shall I unlock the handcuffs, Light-kun?"

L's voice was soft, a whisper, hoarse and male and _then Misa saw it_.

She saw Light's gaze slide to the figure on the other end of the couch, the pale, skinny, deformed, messy, ragged, _ugly_ figure of _Ryuuzaki_, and Misa's hopes exploded into a thousand shards of glass. As Light stared at Ryuuzaki, his pupils dilated and his breathing sped up. The air around them changed, now heavy and buzzing with the sheer magnitude of Light's wild desire for _him_, for _Ryuuzaki_, and Misa _hated_.

With nothing more than a soft word, a blazing glance, Light was completely entranced and they excused themselves with barely a word of explanation or apology. Ryuuzaki was staring into Light's eyes, staring at Light as if Light were _his_, as if he _loved_ him, as if Light was the only thing that mattered anymore and Misa _hated_ that Ryuuzaki had found some way to make Light, _her_ Light, feel the same way back.

But when Rem touched a piece of the Death Note to Misa's hand and told her everything, Misa had already made her choice.

"Rem," she said without hesitation, "do you love me?" The shinigami blinked, taken aback, but softened after a moment of silence.

"Yes."

"And you'll do anything to make me happy? Anything I ask?"

Rem did not waver. "Yes."

Misa smiled that brilliant smile of hers, beckoning the shinigami to bend over so she could whisper in her ear.

You see, Misa was all about two things: loving Light, and hating Ryuuzaki.

She knew which feeling was the strongest.

(_"No matter what, Rem, don't ever kill Ryuuzaki. Promise."_)

……………………

23. Rain

Higuchi was captured, the notebook discovered, and all L knows is that it hurts, it hurts because there is suddenly a wall of invisible hatred between them for no reason at all, and L keeps his teeth clenched for the remainder of the day.

The chain clatters to the floor, and L feels an unexplainable chill creep up in his chest.

Light is walking away, he's walking away and it's too far, but the tug of the handcuffs never comes on L's wrist. Light gazes at him from the other side of the room, the first time in months that they have been this far apart, and even though L stares he misses the frightened glint in those honey-colored eyes.

Light goes home with his father and L stays up the whole night as the torrent outside pounds the windows, pacing and biting his nails and _hating_ Light for leaving and for being innocent and for staring at him like the devil stares at an angel this afternoon, like Kira stares at L.

Light is Kira. One hundred percent certainty. Light is Kira and Light is going to kill him.

And he wants to kick himself for staying up all night worrying, wondering, wanting, hoping whatever they had between them will still be there in the morning. It scares him that he is 75.6 percent unsure of what he will do if it was all a game, all a joke, all a means to alleviate boredom.

It scares him even more that the other 24.4 percent is certainty that he will kill Light-Kira and then himself.

He thinks about it for hours and hours, gripped by fear and desperation so real and surreal that his teeth tear a gash in his thumb and the blood oozes down his skin, hot and wet and red.

This was it. Light was Kira and Light was gone and it was over.

But when Light returns the following morning, storm clouds still billowing in the sky and rivers still running in the streets, there are deep bags under his bloodshot eyes. Matsuda asks questions, and Light brushes him off.

"I couldn't sleep," he murmurs.

Honey met coal, and no words were needed.

"It seems that I will have to accompany Light upstairs to catch up on needed rest. Please do your best in our absence, everyone." And with this unceremonious announcement from L, which no one dared to question, Light soon found himself pressed against the wall of the elevator as they clawed each other's clothes off.

"You are Kira," L whispers.

"I love you," Light whispers back.

And as the elevator rises, their hope for a happily ever trails behind them by a thread.

(_Unfortunately, this wouldn't be their last day in the rain_.)

……………………

24. Tear

It had been coming for a long time.

L watched Light's hackles rise, watched the dangerous flames of fury ignite in his eyes, and _oh god_ as Light _dominated_ him that night it was all he could do to cry out _"Light"_ instead of _"Kira."_

When both of them are spent and spineless, sprawled out beside each other, there is a tear on Light's cheek. Drifting to sleep, Light pulls L a few inches closer and L licks it off.

It tastes like salt and sweat and rain and is gone before the flavor can fully register, but it was there and that's what counts, that's how L knows the storm is finally here.

(_Justice…?_)

……………………

25. Thorn

As luck would have it, the only time Ryuk ever gave Light serious advice was when Light wanted to hear it the least.

"If you don't fall out of love with L, you're grand plans for the world are fucked. There's a thorn on every rose, Light."

It isn't sugar-coated or biased. It's the blunt truth, like everything else the shinigami has ever taught his possessee. Ryuk never babies Light.

(_Even though, sometimes, Ryuk finds himself feeling more paternal toward the brat than he expected_.)

"How unusually poetic of you," Light says as he looks up and raises an eyebrow, sparing the shinigami a snide, somewhat annoyed glance. "But mind your own business."

Ryuk shrugs. "Whatever you say."

The room is quiet for the next few minutes, the low hum of the TV and the scratching of Light's pen barely audible. The brunet reaches for a highlighter, which will make it easier to continue his "work" on the Kira case, when he notices that Ryuk hasn't moved at all for a while. The shinigami is staring at him in a way that almost makes Light shiver. The gaze is penetrating, appraising, and…different, somehow, than how Ryuk has always looked at him before.

"What's with you?" Light is abruptly paying him a lot more attention. Those amber eyes are narrowed suspiciously, and slowly become more unsettled as Ryuk remains silent, staring, the lack of his usual chuckle painfully evident in the ringing silence.

He remains quiet for so long that Light's worry begins to increase exponentially. The boy opens his mouth to snap something, then—

"Light," the shinigami says suddenly, "when you finally get into trouble you can't get out of on your own, I could help you…but I won't."

The look on the police chief's son's face is one of such comic confusion that for a split second Ryuk almost laughs. It quickly melts into an expression of extreme irritation, and Light turns back toward his case files haughtily.

"I already knew that much, Ryuk. You're only in this for yourself. You don't need to remind me."

The barely-there look of disappointment on Ryuk's face — as if Light had completely missed the point — bewilders the brunet more than he lets on.

A long stretch of stillness expands between them again…then Ryuk demands an apple, and the moment passes.

_(It isn't until it's too late that Light realizes what Ryuk was telling him that night.)_

_("I care about myself above everything else, but…I love you, kid. Just a little.")_

……………………

26. Scar

The memories were back, along with the power and the paranoia and the pleasure of purging the scar on his perfect world. It was so easy, easy and fun and everyone was tied to his fingers like puppets.

Everyone but L.

Light laughed and cried and acted his heart out, and Light fooled everyone and got everything he ever wanted.

Everything but L.

L knew.

L knew the whole time that Light was selfish and vain and wanted to kill him as much as oh god he wanted to keep him, and L knew that Light was a fraud and a murderer and a dirty little bastard.

L knew, and L fucking loved him anyway.

They cried and they kissed and they gnashed their teeth, fighting like hellcats against each other, against the world, against that bitch called fate that was forever trying to tear them apart.

(_And somehow, throughout the holding and the hating and the heartache, life went on._)

……………………

_(27. Silence)_

He loved L.

He hated L.

He lusted for L, he worried about L, he was enraged by L, he was confused by L, he was repulsed by L, and he held L close every night as he fell asleep.

He respected L.

He _needed _L.

Gods, how had it come to this? How had one person—one pale, mangy, awe-inspiring, egotistical bastard of a person—become so much to him?

How had L become his everything?

And when he kissed L in the rain that day, he could taste the death that he was bringing upon them both.

L could taste it, too.

"…Light-kun…"

(_It's sad, isn't it?_)

The sound of bells drifted in the wind.

"Ryuuzaki…Ryuuzaki, I made a mistake."

(_You and I will be parting ways soon_.)

And when L knelt at his feet, washing them like the lowest of servants, Light felt his lungs tighten as fire burned in his throat. He wanted to scream, to grab L and run away, to leave and never look back.

_I'm Kira, I'm Kira and I __**love**__ you, and if we go now we still have a chance, we can be together and we can be free and we can be happy, __**happy**__, L—_

But no sound came out.

The dripping of L's hair echoed in the quiet around them; it did not matter that the droplets fell from his eyelashes, not his bangs. L bent down slowly, so slowly, until his lips rested against the top of Light's foot. He kissed the skin tenderly, and a small noise of pain and desperation meekly shivered out of Light's throat.

"Light-kun," L whispered, gazing up at him through tufts of that unruly, silken mop of hair. "What was the mistake?" Ryuuzaki smiled softly, indulgently, a smile he never gave anyone but Light.

Light felt his heart break in half.

"Was it falling?" L continued, dark eyes locked on the amber orbs of his lover, "or…was it not getting back up?"

Light's tears burned tracks down his cheeks as the silence echoed around them.

(_And when L's cell phone rang, it was by pure instinct that Light's hand shot out, snatched it from L's contorted grip, and snapped it in half_.)

……………………

28. Choices

They watched as the Death Note burned, its ashes swirling up into the atmosphere to be lost forever.

The next day, L found the Death Note missing and Light found himself wearing a new watch.

(_Ryuk and Misa both knew that love was bad for making choices_.)

……………………

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29. Veil

One day, when Light walked down the street and glanced up at the giant TV looming over the square, he almost had a heart attack right in the middle of the crowd.

_TSUKI, WILL YOU MARRY ME?_

"Oh, how romantic!"

"I wonder who she is? Tsuki must be a very lucky girl!"

"Is someone at the TV station getting married? Sugoi ne!"

"How terrible if Tsuki says 'no' after this!"

To most of the people on the street, the kanji was written as 'moon.' But Light knew. Written as 'moon,' pronounced as 'light.' _It was his name. His. And only one person had the power to hijack the TV station like that._

Light had never run to headquarters so fast in his life.

He burst in, panting, and marched straight up to the console. Ignoring the shock and confusion of the other members of the investigation team, he grabbed the back of the chair L was crouched in and spun it around violently.

"Was it you?" Light asked breathlessly, grasping at L's shoulders. For someone who was about to be manhandled by an unstable teenager, L looked surprisingly calm. "You put it up there, didn't you? Ryuuzaki, you're asking me for real?"

"What on earth…?" Soichiro blinked back and forth between the two of them. Matsuda had ducked behind the couch.

"Light's gone crazy!"

"Chief, what should we do?" Aizawa and Mogi half-rose from their chairs uncertainly, but it was too late.

"Correct, Light-kun. I did it," L said softly. Light was frozen. Time seemed to move in slow motion as a pale hand came up, pulling a little velvet box from nowhere and opening it, holding it with two fingers and a bent wrist in a grip as contorted as ever and Light had never been so in love. "If you want to…I think I would very much enjoy spending the rest of my life with you, Light-kun."

The silence in the room was deafening. The entire team was holding their breath as they waited for Light's response. L was still as a statue, staring at Light so intensely that Matsuda thought the younger boy would burst into flames at any moment. Light took a shaking breath.

"Yes," he whispered. The brunet's hands were locked in a death grip around L's biceps. "Yes. Yes yes yes yes—!" And suddenly Light had yanked L out of the chair and into a crushing embrace, actually spinning him around in the air as he began to laugh and cry and shout _"Yes!"_

Aizawa'a jaw was on the floor next to Mogi's, and Yagami Soichiro was in the midst of an unpleasant moment of dawning comprehension.

Matsuda, in a rare moment of realization that this was the biggest piece of gossip he was ever going to get his hands on, was whipping his head back and forth between the embracing geniuses in the middle of the room and the news channel playing in a small corner of his monitor, telling a story about how someone had hacked the TV screen in one of the city's main squares—

Thus, Matsuda enjoyed a blinding moment of elation and cheered when L stuck his tongue down Light's throat in full view of everyone.

Tthree full-grown men dropped to the floor in a cold faint.

"That's one veil lifted, anyway," L commented thoughtfully as he resurfaced. Light grinned at him.

"I can't wait to lift the other one. You'll look great in a wedding dress."

L smirked. "We'll see who wears the dress."

And thanks to the activities immediately following that statement, the last two in the building with their consciousness still intact—namely, Matsuda and Watari—promptly lost it in a nosebleed.

(_And if the investigation team had been hoping to pass it off as a bad dream once they woke up, the golden bands on L and Light's ring fingers allowed no such illusion_.)

……………………

30. White

As she stared out the window, she idly noticed how white the clouds were today against the bright blue sky. Even so, she still felt miserably melancholy.

She had known he really didn't like her all that much.

She wasn't blind, after all, so much time having gone by. She had seen the way his smile was strained when he looked at her, the way he seemed so distant when the situation obligated him to talk to her. Still, she had continued to aggressively make him a part of her life, hoping that one day he would love her again as he had once seemed to.

It didn't matter when he didn't pay attention, didn't matter when he didn't come see her, didn't matter when he was wrapped up in the investigation and she wasn't allowed to see him either.

She still smiled, still laughed, still hugged him every chance she got, because she was so proud of him. He was living his dreams; what more could she ask for?

The days went by and she kept on loving him and he kept on ignoring her, until one day (_finally_) everything changed.

The door opened, and in he walked with his perfect smile and shining amber eyes, radiating happiness like she had never seen before.

"Light?"

And when he saw her he laughed, scooping her up in his arms and spinning her around and she was confused and happy all at once.

"I'm getting married, Sayu," he told her, smiling at her like he hadn't smiled at her since he was twelve and she was six and she had told him she thought he was the best and smartest nii-san in the world. "I'm getting married to Ryuuzaki."

And she could've said "What about Misa?" and she could've said "But he's a boy!" and she could've said "You're getting married to someone you've never even introduced me to?!" but she didn't, because none of that mattered when he was hugging her and grinning at her and loving her like she always remembered. Sayu grinned back, jumping up to ruffle his hair in the way she knew he hated.

"That's awesome, onii-chan! So do I get to be maid of honor or best man?"

(_No matter who or where he was, Light would always be her brother_.)

……………………

31. Snow

(_On that day…it had been snowing._)

Back when he first met Light, L had no idea. Light was intriguing and attractive, certainly, but it wasn't like this.

(_Another orphanage. Just like the one before that, and the one before that…_)

When he and Light first began to work together on the investigation, L had vague, subconscious notions. They were dynamic together, a formidable team, but it wasn't like this.

(_The old man with the mustache had said this one would be different. That this one would be special._)

When Light became handcuffed to his wrist day and night, L suspected. Light made him tease, made him fight, made him smile, but it wasn't like this_._

(_L didn't want to be special. He just wanted his parents back._)

When their relationship became physical, L was pretty sure. Every time they would hold hands or kiss or fuck, L would consider it in his head…but it wasn't like _this_.

(_But though his cheeks had been pink with the cold and the building seemed to loom before them, intimidating and large, Watari's hand in his had been warm_.)

He had never said it before, was never going to until he was absolutely certain.

(_He took a deep breath, watching it crystallize in the air before him, and stepped toward Whammy's House._)

It isn't until L wakes up one morning and sees snow falling outside, quiet and gentle, while inside the room the sheets are soft and the bed is warm and Light is spooning him in his sleep and L feels so completely and utterly _happy_ that he never wants to move again…it isn't until then that L _knows_.

The knowledge brings a such a swell of emotions that L finds himself pressing his face into his pillow, maybe grinning and blushing and doing everything else that he'd never let anyone else see, ring glittering on his finger.

Eventually Light stirs, yawning and stretching and mumbling incoherently as he shifts himself closer to L's warmth. "Ohayo…Ryuuzaki…"

And god, in this moment L doesn't want Light for sex or for sport or for show, he doesn't want anything but to just lay here together and watch the snow fall for a minute longer. It is this utter purity of emotion that lets L _know_, know and finally admit to himself, how he feels about Yagami Light.

L turns his head, enough to see Light gazing sleepily at him through tousled bangs, and, as usual, L is completely floored by his utter beauty. Light must see something in L's face, because he leans forward to peck him on the lips as he smiles softly.

"You seem to be unusually happy this morning," the brunet murmurs against the side of the detective's mouth. L, completely sure that he is not smiling anymore, keeps his voice a careful deadpan as he replies.

"What makes you think I'm happier than usual this morning, Light-kun?" And when Light chuckles in that husky, heart-warming way of his, L can't help but melt back against him.

"Ryuuzaki, you're glowing."

(_The other kids had known he was different, had looked at him strangely. Instead of playing with them, he had grabbed the first book he could find. A mystery novel._)

"I love you, Light-kun."

(_That night he stayed up, reading it under the covers with a flashlight until he had finished... Then he went in search of another._)

The room is very quiet and Light is very still, frozen except for the pounding of his heart.

After a moment, L leans forward to kiss him again. As he feels Light's lips trembling, the detective smiles and closes his eyes. They clutch each other close, holding like they'll never let go.

Outside, the snow continues to fall.

(_And, well, the rest is history_.)

…xOxxOx… Owari ...xOxxOx…


End file.
